Fatherhood
by SinsofMidnight
Summary: Drabble about being a parent from three different perspectives. ALL CHAPTERS NOW UP! Rated mature for contents of chapter two!
1. Kaien

**Hello, all. **

**It's been a while, huh… Well, I couldn't find my flash drive, which happens to have most of the stories you await on it. And they aren't on any other computer or flashdrive I own, so they don't get done that way…**

**So I worked on others, like this drabble about parenthood.**

**And now that I found my flashdrive, I'm gonna type it anyway so I feel better, lol. No one enjoys them when they sit in notebooks.**

**So enjoy!**

**~Sins~**

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_Any man can be a father, but it takes a special man to be a dad._

I've never been the most traditional parent, but it still killed me inside to see my children at each other's throats, especially in the literal sense.

My foster son declared that he would kill my adopted daughter and her blood brother. Obviously, I can't let that happen, considering how much the two of them love and care for each other.

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Little Yuuki had come to me with nothing, not even a name. So I got to give her one, got to teach her all those little things a parent teaches their child. That's why, I believe, she grasped my pacifism so tightly. Either that, or it was her memory of Kaname saving her from a Level E.

When Yagari brought Zero to us, Yuuk took him inside and took care of him, cleaning his wounds and calming his fears. He sort of became her shadow, waiting to protect her and help her as she'd helped him. When he realized the extent of her feelings for Kaname, he closed himself off from her more. After all, she loved a Pureblood, and it had been a Pureblood that had attacked him.

Watching the blood slowly transform Zero was painful. The little boy who had everything else stolen from him was slowly losing his humanity –and his sanity. He fought valiantly to stay out of the Night Class, even though he was a vampire. And the only thing Zero hated more that vampires was himself and his craving for human blood.

His body rejected the blood tablets. With the vampire within him craving sustenance it was not receiving, he attacked Yuuki at the scent of her blood, thereby revealing the secret he had kept for years. Yuuki wasn't angry at Zero. She was angry at herself for not seeing his pain. So she began to feed him, hiding it as best she could from the Night Class and trying to keep him sane.

When the Hunter's Association sent Yagari, she gave Zero the strength to keep on fighting, rather than let his Shishou kill him. Yagari himself appreciated this gesture, because he'd practically raised him before the attack. A "parent" should never have to kill their "child".

For a while, life complicated and simplified itself. Shizuka died and Zero was blamed. Kaname made the Council back off. Off and on, complication and resolution. Until Rido took over the body of his son, Senri, and came to Cross Academy. That caused a certain complication that could never be resolved again, not with the limited number of Purebloods/

Kaname woke Yuuki, his blood sister. Their mother, Juri, had given her life to protect Yuuki and hide her as a human. But things were breaking through. Kaname had to act fast to maintain her sanity, but in the process, destroyed her relationship with Zero.

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Now, Zero is pained at every mention of her name, at every thought of her. To think he loved and protected a Pureblood seems to make him sick.

Yuuki is with Kaname again, but I know she misses the violet-eyed Zero. I can tell by the way her eyes seek him out in a crowded room: first hopeful, then resigned to his hatred, and finally accepting it and hating herself for causing him pain.

I don't think he realizes that he destroys her slowly, with every averted glance and stony silence. He'll never have to kill her: his hatred with do the job for him.

So irony rules. The girl Zero would never allow to be turned was the long-hidden Pureblood Princess.

He thinks the Fates are laughing at him.

I know they laugh at me. when all I ever wanted was my children to be happy, one is miserable with her true brother and the other wants to kill her.

The only problem with being a Dad is knowing that you can't always protect your children. All you can do is love them, help them when they ask, and pray.

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**I hope you enjoyed this little drabble. It took me a while to write it, but I liked how it turned out. Hope you do, too!**

**You know what to do!**

**R & R!**

**Also, don't forget to look for chapter two! It's fatherhood from Yagari's prospective!**

**~Sins~  
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	2. Yagari

**This is part two of "Fatherhood": Yagari's POV!**

**I've had this done for a while, but I've been putting off typing anything. *sigh***

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_Several Years Ago…_

I hurried up the path to the Kirryuu Estate, my instincts screaming at me that something was terribly wrong. Running, I crossed the yard to the front door, which was smeared with the dark-brown of dried blood. I yanked the door open, terrified for my two pupils, the two sons of the Kirryuu's. I was greeted by the sick-sweet metallic scent of blood. _Please let the boys be alright,_ I chanted in my head. _Please let the boys be alright._

It should have just been an ordinary day after I'd taken one day off to spend with an old friend. I should have just been coming into work –not that it really felt much like work. 'Work' was slaying vampires. Tutoring the only known pair of twins to result from a slayer's union felt more like fatherhood. When their parents were out slaying vampires, I took care of Ichiru and Zero. I felt a lot like their Dad, even though I was simply their teacher and protector. The boys had wormed their way into my heart, wanted or not.

But I couldn't let my concern for my charges destroy my control. I stepped slowly, gingerly into the living room. It was crimson. The blood hadn't yet dried on the carpet, which squished beneath my feet, a sickening echo filling the room. My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to focus on the two too-still adult-sized forms across the room.

The flame of my hope still burned in my mind. The boys could still be fine.

It was obvious to me by the level of destruction and the amount of blood that it had been one very angry vampire. The living room was trashed. The Kirryuu's had been ripped apart, rent limb from limb, but most of the blood coated the room. So no matter how angry the vampire was, it exhibited a great deal of control. Probably a high-blooded Nobel class. But I had slightly more important things to worry about at the present time.

"Zero! Ichiru!" I called, crossing the blood soaked room.

I heard a mewl of pain and I ran in that direction. There wasn't a second or a soothing murmur. The other twin was mostly likely dead or gone. But I could help one.

I found him as he lifted his head off the carpet a bit. Blood soaked his hair and the carpet beneath him and his violet eyes shown in fear. "Sh-sh-shissou," he murmured as his gaze found me.

I knew which twin it was when I saw those eyes. The determination that was once there had snapped and fallen into the shadows as the fear took residence in his gaze, but I still knew him. "Zero," I whispered, coming to his side and scooping him into my arms. his head lolled to the side and I saw the bite mark. I touched the bruised flesh with gently fingers. "What happened?"

"A Pureblood," he returned brokenly.

He was the best pupil of the two. He knew the fate that awaited him. But I couldn't let him die. I simply cared too much. So I hurried out of the house and to the first place that popped into my head where I knew he'd be safe: Kaien's house.

I knew I couldn't keep him, much as I wished to. The Hunter's Council was not kind to ex-human vampires. I couldn't hide Zero from them that way. Kaien had been a hunter once, but now embraced a pacifism instead. I knew he would raise Zero, even beside the little girl he'd taken in a few years ago. He also knew the ways to bind an ex-human vampire and knew how to get his hands on the artificial blood he would need.

I sped to Kaien's house, Zero curled up in the fetal position on the passenger seat. Gently, I stroked his silver hair, trying to sooth him. I refused to lie to him and tell him it would be alright, because it wouldn't. He would die or he would wish he had. And, knowing the boy as I did, I figured on the second. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know he was already worried and beginning to drown in self-loathing and guilt.

We pulled into Kaien's driveway and I parked the car. Hurring around the car, I opened his door and knelt on the ground before him. "Zero, this is where we say goodbye. He'll take care of you for now. Be strong for me, okay?"

Zero nodded at me, a tear sliding silent and lonely down his pale cheek. He wrapped his small arms around me in a tight hug, then pulled away like he'd never succumbed to such an urge.

I wiped the tear off his cheek. He stood up and walked on his own two feet as we walked to the front door. He acted stronger than he was, but I wasn't going to shoot him down, because he'd fall to pieces and I'd soon follow.

Knocking on the door, I stealed myself against the possible refusal. Kaien, himself, had no sense of self-preservation, but he might refuse for the sake of his adopted daughter Yuuki.

A small girl opened the door and looked up at me. "Uncle Toga. The Headmaster will be free in a moment."

I smiled and ruffled her hair. "You know, Kaien would be much happier if you called him 'dad'."

She wrinkled her nose at that. "But he's not my dad." She looked back into the house. "Headmaster, Uncle Toga wants to talk to you!"

"Yuuki, why can't you call me 'Dad'?" Kaien whined as he came to stand behind her. His gaze fell on Zero, then his tone turned serious. "Yuuki, take Zero in and clean him up, please."

For the first time, Yuuki's red-brown eyes fell on the silent boy who stood by my side. Her expression softened as she stretched out her hand for him. "Come with me, okay?"

He looked up at me, his eyes asking if he should. I nodded in reply and he placed his hand in hers and let her lead him in.

Kaien watched the exchange, frowning. "Your pupil. What happened to him?

"He was attacked by a Pureblood. It killed his parents and probably also his twin brother. But Zero was left alive in a pool of his own blood."

"Careful, Toga. One might think you care about him."

I glared at Kaien. "I practically raised him! Of course I care. I'd keep him, myself, but they would freak."

Kaien's eyes widened. "You love this boy. Can't kill him, can you?"

I looked him in the eye. "Keep him safe. For me."

He nodded and I hurried away, toward my car. I knew that my next assignment would be to kill someone just like my pupil: an innocent victim of a vampire who didin't die from the bit but was overwhelmed by the monster in their blood that craved the blood of others.

As I hurried away, not wanting to think about the fact I abandoned Zero, I thought about what could happen. I could have to kill him someday. But I ignored that thought and started praying like hell that there would never come a day when I'd have to kill the boy I loved like a son. Because that might just kill me, too.

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**I twisted it a bit to my liking, but I always thought that Toga would have had to have been the one who found him like that. And Hino-tan always makes a point of Toga's lack of desire to kill Zero, even when he thinks he has to.**

**I hope you enjoy this. Sorry I took so long.**


	3. Haruka

**I've really been dragging on working on this one… I suppose it's because, while Haruka was the logical father to add, I have no affection for the piece I wrote for him. It feels very half-hearted to me, so I'm rewriting and revising as I type to hopefully make it better and more enjoyable for us all. **

**So, without further ado, here is Haruka's perspective on fatherhood.**

**Please keep in mind that this** **is set at least 16 years before the series begins, because Haruka Kuran –that would be Yuuki and Kaname's father– is quite obviously dead when the series picks up.**

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"Daddy?"

I looked over at my daughter, my sweet secret child, who was poised on the staircase. "Yes, darling?"

"Where's Kaname-onii?" She tilted her head cutely at the end.

I smiled. So young and she already loved her brother so much. They would be happy, like Juri and I were. If they made it that far. But already, suitors for Kaname, my son, were begging for his hand. That was why little Yuuki was a secret.

During my musing, she came to stand beside me. I stroked her long brown hair, tucking the front pieces that fell in her face behind her ears. "He's probably looking for you, Yuuki."

She smiled up at me, innocence gleaming in her gaze. I had to scoop her into my arms and hug her, for I knew that the innocence would not remain for long, not when she lived in this world. But for now, she was our protected secret, dearer than our hearts, and she would be innocent as long as I could manage it. As I clutched her to me, Kaname pattered through the door.

"Dad, have you seen- ?" he stopped when he saw me holding on to her. I would have sworn my tall son wanted to glower at me, but the reserved young man refrained.

I smiled and kissed her head. "Look! Here he is, just like I told you."

I set her down on the floor and she scampered over to Kaname. "Nii-chan!"

He, like I had, scooped her up in his arms. "Yes, Yuuki?"

She stretched to kiss his cheek. "I love you," she told him cutely.

He kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, Yuuki."

Kaname already was pubescent, a mere adolescent in our society, and he was just beginning to find his sister, well, attractive. That was how these things went, as I knew from first-hand experience. I watched it war in his red-brown eyes. He perceived it as wrong; after all, humans didn't find their sibling attractive. I wanted to sigh and shake my head. I was going to have to talk to him about that. After all, he knew his mother and I were siblings.

But instead of talking with him then, I slipped out of the room, allowing my children a private moment together.

Slender arms slid around me and I smile, knowing who it was even before she spoke. "Haruka."

"Yes, my dear?" I asked my wife Juri, looking over my shoulder to meet her eyes.

"You're over-thinking again, my dear," she told me, running her cool fingers over my forehead to ease the worrying lines.

I smiled. She was right, of course. I was simply worrying too much. "Well, it's been a long time since we had some time to ourselves," I told her, my tone implying the meaning of my words.

She smiled at that. "Haruka, I know you can't stop worrying because I ask it. Just don't over-think things. Deal with the hand life has dealt us." She kissed my neck softly, making me shiver, then disappeared.

My wife was right, of course. Worrying about it wouldn't add a single second to our children's life spans, so what good did it do anyone? Even beings as powerful as Purebloods had to learn to deal with the hand Fate dealt to them. So we'd make proper arrangements just in case of disaster and force it from our minds.

What was the point of living if all one did was worry? Could that kind of existence even be called life?

Life is to be found in the series of moments you had with the ones you love. And nothing –not even eternal life, copious power, or massive bank accounts– was more precious than that.

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**So I hope you enjoyed this last part. I know it was very short, but it shows a lot about them in such a short time.**

**This concludes my collection of drabbles. I'm thankful for those of you that have followed, read, and/or enjoyed them.**

**Best wishes! Hope to see you reading my other fictions!**

**~Sins~**


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